Brother Thelonious is named after Thelonious Monk, one of the greatest jazz pianists; let’s set the mood appropriately. North Coast Brewing Company, from Fort Bragg, CA, brews Brother Thelonious as part of their American Artisan series. And holy crap, what a beer to brew in honor of a great jazz pianist. Furthermore, a donation to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz is made for each bottle of Brother Thelonious sold. To me, a lover of jazz and musician, that’s pretty  [ Read More ]

La Terrible is a brew from Unibroue that you won’t find at Walt Disney World. It’s also one of Kim’s favorites. Unlike most of Unibroue’s offerings, this Belgian Dark Strong Ale comes in a simple black bottle with silver markings. It also lacks the story or legend that accompany the other beers in Unibroue’s lineup. This one’s all about the ale within. La Terrible pours nearly pitch black with a large tan head. It has a clean sweet scent with  [ Read More ]

Happy New Year! Longtime readers (can we say that after only a year?) of Beers and Ears know we have an affinity for Unibroue and have reviewed many of their beers. Le Cellier in the Canada pavilion is the unofficial home of Unibroue at Walt Disney World and we continue to lament its lack of availability in the rest of the Canada pavilion, especially after a few were temporarily freed from their Le Cellier bonds for the Food and Wine Festival. Don-de-Dieu  [ Read More ]

The tree is finished; next on the list of Christmas decorations is the lights. Hopefully it goes better than this: Anyway, that’s not really what you’re here for is it? On with the beer! Tonight I’m pouring myself another holiday beer. Pink elephants: they’re not just in Dumbo anymore. From Brouwerij Huyghe (Huyghe Brewery in Belgian) comes their holiday beer, Delirium Noël. Huygue also makes the delicious Delirium Tremens and Delirium Nocturnum. All the Delirium beers feature pink elephants; on this bottle, the  [ Read More ]

Yes, it’s time for another Unibroue beer from those fine Canadian brewers. This is Trois Pistoles, a Belgian Strong Dark Ale. Before we begin, this one gave me a bit of surprise when I was opening it. I removed the cage from around the cork in the bottle but didn’t remove the cork. I turned to do something else, but while I was otherwise occupied, the cork shot out of the bottle and straight up into the air. The foam  [ Read More ]

Maudite, French for “damned” (hence the devil on the bottom of the label), is a Belgian strong ale from those wonderful Canadians at Unibroue. 8% ABV blends in well with the flavors of this ale, consisting of some fruit and spice notes. It also has a note in it that I can’t quite describe but seems to be in all three of Unibroue’s brews I’ve had so far. I can actually feel the warmth as the beer travels down to  [ Read More ]

On Saturday night, my wife, sister-in-law and I went to Chimes East in Baton Rouge after the kids went to bed. Chimes East is the second location of The Chimes, a bar and restaurant just outside the north gates of LSU. First up this night was Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale, a fairly good 7.2% American strong ale. Chimes East has this on tap; it has a nice hit of hops up front but smooths out pretty quickly. So what did  [ Read More ]